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The Heroes 2
The Heroes 2 is a 2012 American 3D computer-animated adventure comedy film produced by Blue Sky Studios for 20th Century Fox. The eighth animated feature from Blue Sky Studios, it was directed by Carkis Saldanha from a screenplay by Peter Gaulke, and a story by Gerry Swallow. It is the sequel to 2007's The Heroes, and takes place two years after the first film. In the film, Kim, Jason, and their friends go to summer camp. Kim and Jason lead the others, as they come to the aid of Christy, a young orphan camper who is tempted by an evil shape-shifting figure named Dark Heart. So, they have to save camp. Development of the film began shortly after the success of the original Heroes ''in 2007. Carlos Saldahna was announced to direct. Saldahna and the story team developed the plot for the sequel over a weekend in November 2008. The original voice cast of the first film — Margot Robbie, Ken Jeong, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jenny Slate, Channing Tatum, Alicia Fox, and Kristin Chenoweth — reprised their roles, joined by Mila Kunis, Alec Baldwin, Isla Fisher, Jake T. Austin, and Chloë Grace Moretz (replacing Georgia Engel). David Newman also returned to compose the original score for the sequel. ''The Heroes 2 premiered on May 31, 2012 at the Fox Village Theater, and was released in the United States on June 15, 2012. It was an immediate critical and commercial success, earning over $878 million worldwide on its $80 million budget. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray in November 2012. It was followed by The Heroes 3 on August 11, 2017. Plot Aboard their boat, Kim and Jason, who saved the world from Nicolas. On the way, a red sea serpent threatens them—one of the many forms of Dark Heart, an evil spirit. They escape by following a rainbow up to the sky, while the boat transforms into the Cloud Clipper. Once they get home, Kim and Jason's new parents said that they are going to summer camp for eight weeks. Kim and Jason were so excited that they asked Glory, Chrissy, Bill, Maggie, and The Queen of the Forest of Feelings to come, but Flo can't go because she is too young to go. Then, they all pack up their stuff for tomorrow. Kim and Jason then slept through the night and relaxed. The next day, they eat some cereal for breakfast, and then went to visit their friends and the bus goes to summer camp. There, they meet three of its participants: a girl named Christy (Mila Kunis), and her friends, the twins John (Jake T. Austin) and Dawn (Isla Fisher). A boastful boy nicknamed the "Camp Champ" always defeats them in competitions, and assigns them to trash duty. Christy is unsatisfied at this; she and her friends run away, only to get lost in the woods. Jason soon finds John and Dawn, and brings them to the Kingdom of Caring. After they arrive, the children hear a bell toll from the Meter, which tells them how much caring is taking place on Earth. Kim and Jason tell them, before they leave to search for Dark Heart and Christy. Meanwhile, in the woods, Christy meets Dark Heart (as a human boy) for the first time, and asks him to make her the new Camp Champ. He grants her that wish, telling her she must pay him back with one favor, and heads away while she rejoins her friends. Aware of Dark Heart's potential, Kim and Jason move them to the Forest of Feelings. Later, while they prepare a party for the Kingdom's founders, Dark Heart enters in disguise so that he can capture the whole Family. A cluster of Star Buddies, assistants to them, drives him off; he then morphs into a raging red cloud. They shoot light at him, forming their "Hero Stare"; Maggie also helped by using their "Hero Call". Afterward, Kim and Jason decide to search for him, and leave them to handle missions all by themselves. During their patrol, Bill spots Christy stranded in a canoe within a lake; the others set out to rescue her. Dark Heart fires lightning bolts before the team, and captures many of them with his magic bag— the favor he wanted Christy to do all along. The few Family members at hand determine that she has teamed up with him. This prompts Chrissy to hold a conference at the Hall of Hearts; Glory, Bill, Maggie, and Christy's friends later join them. That night, Dark Heart's influence causes the other children to wreck the camp. They search for the Family members, before Dark Heart imprisons them—first in cages, then inside big rubies hanging from a chandelier. Meanwhile, John and Dawn tell Christy of their conviction to rescue the Family from the villain. Feeling guilty, she finally pays him back by admitting what she has done. Despite this, her bargain with Dark Heart is over. Kim, Jason, John and Dawn enter Dark Heart's lair amid his impending deed; Christy asks him to free the others. While Kim and Jason enact their Stare, lightning from his cloud strikes Christy, who screams in fear and gets struck and wounded. With little energy left in her, she crashes down the chandelier with a marble.The Family members, finally free from the rubies, help Kim and Jason out. At the sight of a dead Christy, Dark Heart becomes remorseful for his actions. He asks them to bring her back to life, but is disappointed that their kindness is not even enough. So he, the Family, John and Dawn chant "We are heroes!" enough times to bring her back to life. Soon after, the group quickly leaves the cave as it transforms into an outhouse. Dark Heart becomes a real boy, and everyone is overjoyed. After a swim in the lake, the campers say goodbye to them; the former Dark Heart promises to be a better person at camp. Meanwhile, when they get back home, Kim and Jason's were excited for them coming home. And they prepared a pool party. And everyone celebrated. In a mid-credits scene, the boy Dark Heart went to the house for the pool party. But everyone looked at him, and Dark Heart walked away. Then, they got back to swimming and partying. Cast Main article: List of The Heroes characters * Margot Robbie as Kim * Ken Jeong as Jason * Bryce Dallas Howard as Glory * Jenny Slate as Chrissy * Channing Tatum as Bill * Alicia Fox as Maggie * Mila Kunis as Christy * Alec Baldwin as Dark Heart * Isla Fisher as Dawn * Jake T. Austin as John * Kristin Chenoweth as Queen of the forest of feelings * Chloë Grace Moretz as Flo Production Development The Heroes was released on October 12, 2007 and grossed $435 million at the box office. This success guaranteed production of a sequel, which was in consideration by May 2008. As with the original, production took place at Blue Sky Studios; the studio also hired South Korean personnel to handle inking and painting. This time, over one hundred Blue Sky animators worked on the film over a seven-month period that lasted until February 2012; the company itself received credit for the story development. In July 2009, it was announced the sequel would have a release date for 2012. Several other crewmembers from the first film returned to the fold; Lori Forte returned as producer, while Peter Gaulke wrote the screenplay. and Chris Wedge handled animation duties. Chris Wedge also served once again as an executive producer. In an early version of The Heroes 2, Mr. Cherrywood would tell another story to the orphan kids, telling how Kim, Jason, and their friends team up with Kim's cousin Dave in order to defeat a new enemy named the Smooze. Director Chris Wedge said it was overtly satiric, with many funny ideas, but "it was more intellectual than emotional". In March 2010, Fox announced that the sequel will have a new plot with them going to summer camp and will be scheduled for release on June 29, 2012. It was announced on February 18, 2011 that the release date for the film was being pushed back a week to June 22, 2012. On September 17, 2011, the film was pushed up one week to June 15, 2012. Casting In December 2008, it was announced that Margot Robbie, Ken Jeong, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jenny Slate, Channing Tatum, Alicia Fox, Kristin Chenoweth, Mickey Rooney, and Georgia Engel will reprise their roles in the sequel. In December 2009, it was announced that Mickey Rooney and Georgia Engel, who appeared in the first film, will not return, due to Mickey Rooney retiring from acting and Georgia Engel growing up. So, Georgia Engel's role was given to Chloë Grace Moretz. In October 2010, Alec Baldwin, Mila Kunis, Isla Fisher and Jake T. Austin joined the cast for the film to voice new characters in the sequel. Allusions According to Richard Freedman of the Newhouse News Service, "This must be the first version of the Faust myth in which not only does Faust (or Faustina Christy, here) manage to weasel out of the pact with the Devil, but succeeds in regenerating him, as well." Elliot Krieger of Rhode Island's Providence Journal also took note of such a theme, headlining his review "Faust goes to summer camp". Charles Solomon pointed out that the film's climax, in which the Bears help revive Christy, "borrows...flagrantly from Peter Pan". The Scarecrow contributor took note of this aspect, writing, "There's an excruciating scene where they turn to the audience and plead for help in the form of excessive and focused caring." In his critique, Hal Lipper called it the "Tinker Bell Principle", whereupon the audience must come together to save a dying character. In Vincent Canby's opinion, the Great Wishing Star "looks like Tinker Bell if she were a star-shaped beanbag". Music As with the original film, David Newman composed the score for The Heroes 2. The soundtrack album was released in CD format by Varèse Sarabande. Los Angeles musicians Dean and Carol Parks were credited as producers, writers and performers of the film's six songs, which were included on the album. Stephen Bishop, performer of the Oscar-nominated "It Might Be You" from Tootsie, and Debbie Allen from the TV series Fame, were on hand as vocalists. John Braden arranged and edited the album. Release The film premiered at the Fox Village Theater on June 1, 2012. The film was released in the United States on June 15, 2012 and in the United Kingdom on June 22, 2012. Marketing The film's first teaser trailer was released on November 6, 2011 during an episode of Kim Possible, and was shown before Happy Feet Two, Arthur Christmas, The Muppets, Alvin and The Chipmunks: ChipWrecked, and The Big Year. The official trailer was released on February 19, 2012 during an episode of Family Guy and was later attached to films such as The Lorax, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, The Avengers, and Geoshea Theft Auto 2. A huge amount of merchandise was made for The Heroes 2, such as toys and figurines. 20th Century Fox teamed up with several major companies to promote the film, including McDonald's, who included 9 toys in their Happy Meals featuring the main characters, and Airheads, who made limited-edition flavors "The Hero Flavor" and "Dark Heart's Dark Cherry Taste". A contest, which ended in early May 2012, allowed fans to submit ideas for computer animations to promote the release of the film. The winning idle idea "Kim's Move" was unveiled on May 24, 2012. A video game adaption was published by THQ and released on May 22, 2012, for the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PlayStation Vita. A Wii U version was released on November 18, 2012. Home media The Heroes 2 was released on DVD and Blu-ray (2D and 3D) by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on November 20, 2012, and debuted in 12th place on Billboard's Top Blu-ray Sales chart on December 1 that same year. The releases included a new short film titled Punk-Rocking Maggie. Reception Critical reception The Heroes 2 received generally positive reviews from critics, with many considering it to be better than its predecessor. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 84% approval rating with an average rating of 7.3/10 based on 186 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads: "The Heroes 2 upgrades the action, humor, and production values of its predecessor to outstanding new levels – with deeper focus on character drama on top of all that." On another review aggregator Metacritic, the film has a weighted average rating of 80 out of 100 based on 47 professional reviews published in newspapers, magazines and in highly regarded Internet sites, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Roger Ebert gave it three out of four stars saying it's "wonderous, entertaining, hilarious, and it's full with enjoyment," while Richard Corliss of Time Magazine gave a positive review and called it "laughably fun." Max Nicholson of IGN commented, "The Heroes 2 lives up to the first groundbreaking box office smash, except the plot is very familiar." James Rocchi of MSN Movies gave the film four out of five stars, calling it "a sequel that is way better and cooler than the original, with full of hilarious scenes with some action and more." A.O. Scott of The New York Times praised the film for being able to balance out the action sequences and strong storytelling, writing that "The Heroes 2 has a lot of better sequences than the original The Heroes, with some gags, action scenes, and it has the usual wit from the original." In contrast to the praise it received, even in some positive reviews, some critics said that the film wasn't as good as the original film. Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a negative review, saying "Amazing sequels like Toy Story 2 and Shrek 2 showed the laughs of more fun scenes; The Heroes 2 doesn't quite have usual gags as the original 20th Century Fox hit." Box office The Heroes 2 ''opened in 4,122 North American theaters on June 15, 2012, grossing $38 million on its first day, for a total of $121.6 million in its first weekend. ''The Heroes 2 grossed $322.2 million in the United States, and $556.7 million overseas, bringing its cumulative total to $878.9 million. The film was the sixth-highest-grossing film worldwide of 2012, and the highest-grossing film 20th Century Fox film of that year. In addition, it was the second-highest-grossing animated film of 2007 (behind Geoshea Theft Auto 2), and the eighth-highest-grossing animated film ever. The film sold an estimated 46,907,000 tickets in North America. The film was released in the United Kingdom on June 29, 2012, and topped the country's box office for the next two weekends. Accolades Sequels Main article: The Heroes 3 During the production of The Heroes 2, a third Heroes movie was announced by Chris Wedge, the director of the first film. was scheduled to direct the third movie. The film was released on August 11, 2017. In this third film, Kim, Jason, and their friends travel to Wonderland and save its Princess from a wizard; Alice, a girl from the real world, takes her place. The film received mixed reviews. Chris Wedge revealed in an interview in September 2017 that a fourth Heroes film is in development for a June 3, 2020 release date. Category:EvanRocks Wiki